The England DNA Foundation Phase

Coaches, check out the new Out of Possession explanations and extra detail to help you understand more about the England DNA and how it relates to the young players you coach. You will find it in both the U5-8 and 9-12 technical cards so make sure you have a look. The key messages are summarised and every coach can use them to help shape the defensive behaviours of the players. Even if you stopped saying “get rid, boot it out” or “clear it” and replaced this with an approach that gave the players the confidence to stay on the ball, look to pass forward, play out of tight areas or travel forward with the ball then you will help us improve standards almost immediately. Have a go and help us build on the success of our U17 World Cup winning team who have been praised for their technical ability, willingness to build from the back, step into midfield to create overloads and many more of the things we have built the DNA upon. Of course our Foundation Players will not do this straight away or with 100% success but it is our job to encourage and develop these abilities to start the process off. Lets do this. Cheers. Pete